Data & Config Formats

XML Formatter

Clean up minified or inconsistently indented XML into a readable, properly nested document.

Free & unlimitedRuns in your browserNo sign-up required

Minified XML

Formatted XML

DOMParser is not defined

XML Formatting and Indentation

XML prettifying adds human-readable indentation and line breaks to minified XML, making it easier to inspect, debug, and review document structure.

Why XML is minified in production

Network transmission costs are proportional to data size. Removing whitespace from XML can reduce payload size by 10–30% depending on document complexity. Minified XML is generated by serializers when producing SOAP messages, RSS/Atom feeds, SVG files, and Android resource files.

The XML Declaration

The optional <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> declaration at the top of XML documents specifies the XML version and character encoding. While optional for UTF-8 content, it is required when using non-UTF-8 encodings and is considered best practice for all XML documents.

Self-closing tags

Elements with no content can be written as <tag/> instead of <tag></tag>. Both are semantically equivalent. This formatter uses self-closing tags for empty elements to produce more compact, readable output.

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How it works

Three steps, no setup

Paste your XML

Minified or partially formatted XML both work as input.

Pick an indent style

Choose 2 spaces, 4 spaces, or tabs.

Copy the formatted markup

Self-closing tags and processing instructions are handled correctly.

Common questions

Frequently asked questions

Does formatting validate the XML?

Malformed markup — like an unclosed tag — is flagged rather than silently reformatted incorrectly.

XML Formatter

XML Formatting and Indentation

Why XML is minified in production

The XML Declaration

Self-closing tags

Three steps, no setup

Paste your XML

Pick an indent style

Copy the formatted markup

Frequently asked questions

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XML Formatting and Indentation

Why XML is minified in production

The XML Declaration

Self-closing tags